Politics

I know I am bad with the shairi thing and most probably I have gotten the shair above wrong, apologies for that, but thats not the point of the post. The point of the post is to talk about the self-proclaimed sualiheen aka holy beings aka messiahs aka Talibans.

But before talking about Taliban and whether we like em, support em or not, i think its important to understand what the buzz word, Sharia, is all about.

Now this will obviously be a summary and/or an introduction to the topic and will not include a lot of minute details.

Sharia

The word Sharia itself has been used only once in the Qur’an [45:18] and can literally be translated to mean ‘way’ or ‘path.’ It is the legal framework (based on fiqh) for the private and public lives of Muslims providing laws for politics, economics, family, hygiene and several social issues. (Do read The Comparison with the Common Law here)

The objectives of Sharia

The law was basically developed for the falah of the people, both in this world and in the hereafter and thus include all aspects of life.

Protection of Religion: To protect the freedom of practicing religion, specifically the 5 basic pillars of Islam. To provide basic health facilities so as to enable all to undertake activities of physical ibadat (includes marriage at appropriate age) and help people in earning halal rizq.

Protection of Life: To promote meditation through salaat (mental relaxation) and physical health through medical facilities and exercise. Family health to be protected through laws on quarantines during epidemics and the isolation of persons with contagious disease. This category also includes laws of revenge, qisas andhomicide.

Protection of Progeny: To provide medical facilities to the females to ensure a healthier society. This category also includes the laws related to marriage (the contract itself), divorce, custody of children, adoption, inheritance and also illegitimate relationships (zina) and the children that might be born as a result of such relationships.

Protection of The Mind: To provide services that would provide mental peace and laws that keep people away from alcohol, drugs and other addictive habits. This may include a lot of laws that govern the economical condition of the society (poor economic condition can lead to mental imbalance) and false accusations.

Protection of Wealth: To facilitate people in ensuring proper usage of their zakaat. This category also includes laws about financial independence of women and regulations about property, trade, preservation of property rights and the punishments for stealing.

Do we know of a country that protects religion, life, progeny, mind and wealth?

I have been thinking of writing a post on my opinion on Talibans and how I view them…Here are two posts that I think have been very well written and although might not be depicting my view completely, they come really close. I do not necessarily agree with each and everything in these posts.

The first one is by minerva and is just based on her FB updates and her conversation with someone on FB.

The second one comes from across the border and looks at the Pashtuns, their roots, culture and how the Talibans used that for their advantage.

Less than 4 weeks back, the Sri Lankan team came under attack in a city which is commonly known to be the ‘heart’ of Pakistan. Sadly, not a single terrorist was captured or killed and they were all successful in escaping without a single injury. Obviously, the consequences could have been worse if any Sri Lankan player had been killed or had they been able to perhaps take some part of the city hostage but now it seems they have come back to finish the job: 10-12 young armed men, dressed in police uniform, have taken control of a Police Academy (!!) in the ‘heart’ of Pakistan.

Right now, as I type this, my fingers seem to have frozen and my mind is completely blank. The timing could just never be worse for an attack of this magnitude….a time wen Obama has started clearly accusing Pakistan for not doing enough against terrorism, wen “American generals have turned their guns on Pakistan, accusing elements of its main intelligence agency, the ISI, of supporting Taliban and al-Qaeda militants [Source]” and wen India has been able to provide quite a fewproofs against certain Pakistanis in relation to the 26/11 attack on Mumbai. Meanwhile, we havent had any success in proving anything against anyone at all in relation to the 3/3 attacks.

I got this in an email today, an open letter written for Barack Obama by Mahathir bin Mohamad for Global Research. You might have read it before but it is surely worth reading again.

January 1, 2009
Dear Mr. President,
I did not vote for you in the Presidential Election because I am Malaysian.
But I consider myself one of your constituents because what you do or say will affect me and my country as well.
I welcome your promise for change. Certainly your country, the United States of America needs a lot of changes.
That is because America and Americans have become the most hated people in the world. Even Europeans dislike your arrogance. Yet you were once admired and liked because you freed a lot of countries from conquest and subjugation.
It is the custom on New Year’s day for people to make resolutions. You must have listed your good resolutions already. But may I politely suggest that you also resolve to do the following in pursuit of Change.
1) Stop killing people. The United States is too fond of killing people in order to achieve its objectives. You call it war, but today’s wars are not about professional soldiers fighting and killing each other. It is about killing people, ordinary innocent people by the hundreds of thousands. Whole countries will be devastated.
War is primitive, the cavemen’s way of dealing with a problem. Stop your arms build up and your planning for future wars.
2) Stop indiscriminate support of Israeli killers with your money and your weapons. The planes and the bombs killing the people of Gaza are from you.
3) Stop applying sanctions against countries which cannot do the same against you.
In Iraq your sanctions killed 500,000 children through depriving them of medicine and food. Others were born deformed.
What have you achieved with this cruelty? Nothing except the hatred of the victims and right-thinking people.
4) Stop your scientists and researchers from inventing new and more diabolical weapons to kill more people more efficiently.
5) Stop your arms manufacturers from producing them. Stop your sales of arms to the world. It is blood money that you earn. It is un-Christian.
6) Stop trying to democratize all the countries of the world. Democracy may work for the United States but it does not always work for other countries.
Don’t kill people because they are not democratic. Your crusade to democratize countries has killed more people than the authoritarian Governments which you overthrew. And you have not succeeded anyway.
7) Stop the casinos which you call financial institutions. Stop hedge funds, derivatives and currency trading. Stop banks from lending non-existent money by the billions.
Regulate and supervise your banks. Jail the miscreants who made profits from abusing the system.
8 ) Sign the Kyoto Protocol and other international agreements.
9) Show respect for the United Nations.
I have many other resolutions for change which I think you should consider and undertake.
But I think you have enough on your plate for this 2009th year of the Christian Era.
If you can do only a few of what I suggest, you will be remembered by the world as a great leader. Then the United States will again be the most admired nation. Your embassies will be able to take down the high fences and razor-wire coils that surround them.
May I wish you a Happy New Year and a great Presidency.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad
(Former Prime Minister of Malaysia)